Re: Krahlizek startup

From: rai@rb.icl.co.uk (rai)

Date: Mon, 25 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000

Stansby (stansby@netcom.com) wrote:
> I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the best innovation(s) to buy
> in the Krahlizek setup phase.  My guess is that whichever one I buy,
> there will be some point where I wished that I had bought something else
> instead.  So tell me what it is you bought, how you liked it, and if you
> were doing it over, what you _would_ have bought instead.

My favourite setup innovation is Banking. I'm in two games with PhilDee in
the UK and I chose that for both. I don't regret it and in fact regard it
as a neccessity for my economic based strategies. Its big benefit is its
ability to purchase multiple innovations which I use quite a lot. Its ability
to buy a cheap innovation isn't so important as I've only ever been able to
exploit that in the first turn of the game (though one of my setup strategies
uses that too :-)).

> I am beginning my first game, and I have no idea of what to expect in
> terms of approximate strength of the barbarian troops in neutral
> provinces on the first turn.  Hope to hear what you experienced.

Your map always gives the approximate number of soldiers in neighbouring
provinces. This also incidently, for barbarians, is the wealth of the
province. To estimate it for further away provinces I assume 5-10 for a
coastal province and 8-16 for an inland one.

I word of warning though. In the early stages of the game the neighbouring
troop estimates on your results are reasonbly reliable. However due to the
way the estimates are calculated, once the player armies start growing they
become next to useless. In one of my games I had 1900 navies in a sea
province yet a player I was in contact with reported seeing its strength
estimated as 343! (for those who don't know, the error in the report is
based on the size of the army so armies of 100 or more soldiers are reported
with up to a 100% random error in them). Beyond a certain stage of the game
the Satellite Tech innovation is vital as it removes the error from all
reports.

Cheers,

Ross

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Inglis                       ! Disclaimer: My opinions are my own,
rai@rb.icl.co.uk                  !     I do not speak for my employer.

References

Krahlizek startup
stansby@netcom.com (Stansby)
Sun, 24 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000